File #8
Omae Wa Mou, Shindeiru
Nobunaga and I stood with our blades locked for a few seconds before he threw me backwards with great strength. I slammed into a tree and was stunned momentarily. I only just managed to parry Nobunaga's follow up strike. I caught a glimpse of his face. It wasn't crazy or insane like Adrian's or Jessie's or Clío's. Instead, it displayed a look of immense sorrow. I could feel it emanating from his whole being. The force of my parry sent Nobunaga back a few steps and regained his balance. I quickly checked my health status via my watch, still green. Good. I rushed forward and began attacking Nobunaga with strikes of my own. I of course had been trained in some blade combat. Mainly with dad. I remember once he had accidentally cut my cheek when we were sparing for fun when I was around 16. Dunno who was more mad at him at that moment, me or Mom.
"YOU. CUT my baby's face," I remember Mom telling him as she cleaned my wound. Dad was a few feet away from her looking rather scared. Yes. Chris Redfield. The man who has seen many fucked up bioweaopns including some big tiddied vampire lady that turns into a dragon, was frightened of a 5 foot 6 woman who was like half his body weight.
"I'm fine mom. It was my fault, I dodged the wrong way," I told her. Mom's eyes flashed at Dad who flinched.
"You are so lucky that I love you so much Redfield," Mom said menacingly. Dad came over and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry hon, I really didn't mean to. Looks like it's not that deep. That'll heal," he said. "Meanwhile, how much money am I spending on you to make you not mad at me?" Mom reluctantly smiled.
Nobunaga nearly took my head off with one of his sword swings and I felt some of my hairs being cut. I turned to face Nobunaga who was not clutching his head in agony. I could see that parts of his armor were now glowing and flowing with what looked like…
"No…NO! He knows! Zack! Run!" Nobunaga said and started fumbling in his armor for his keycard.
"You didn't think I knew what you were doing Nobunaga? I know everything that you have been doing. EVERYTHING! How you have been silently dispatching some of the other experiments so that Zack didn't have to face them. How you have been releasing some of my other prisoners to be picked up by that Voth woman. I installed my own contingency program on your armor. The newest strand of the Red-Virus is now ready for a test! This one targets more of Mr. Refield's rage and desire to kill those he deems enemies. Say goodbye to your humanity Nobunaga. Not that you had much left anyway," Grims voice boomed across the area.
"GRIM! SHOW YOURSELF YOU COWARD!" I yelled as Nobunanga continued to yell in pain. Grim's voice laughed.
"I'm a coward? I don't recall ever punching someone for insulting my daddy with a bunch of allies around. Goodbye Zack-...hey…HEY KNOCK HIM OUT WILL YOU?" Grim yelled before I heard him for the first time in 3 months. My father. Chris Redfield.
"Zack? Zack! Don't worry son, I'm fine! Kill this bas-" was all I heard before the connection was cut. It was true. My father was alive. I know I heard it earlier but this confirms it. I recognized the tone in his voice whenever he spoke to his family. It was less commanding and more "Dad's here. I've got this" if you can catch my drift. Unfortunately, I had a much bigger problem to deal with at this moment, my samurai pal. The Red-Virus was being pumped into him this entire time and he had started to change. First off, his bare chest was now exposed and his skin had turned gray, almost black. His legs had changed from human legs to a more goat like appearance and now sported nasty looking spikes near the kneecaps and behind his shins. I honestly think the sounds were the worst part. Ever watch a really violent anime where people get killed a lot and the people making it use all those like squelching and squishing sounds? Yeah, sort of like that. Nobunaga's hands and partway up his forearms were now black and resembled gauntlets. His face looked more like an oni than ever before but it had horns, spiky ears, and razor sharp fangs. Plus, it also resembled my dad's face. He finished his transformation with a deafening roar and produced a sword that could give a JRPG final boss a run for his money. Don't get what I mean? Ok, lemme help you cause I happen to know a few things about swords. Big katana. Like abnormally big. An Ōdachi but bigger. He spotted me standing there almost paralyzed with fear. He laughed a demonic laugh and pointed his sword at me. I then heard my father's demonic face speak Japanese in a very deep voice.
"Zakkarī reddofīrudo, jigoku ni chokumen!" he bellowed and charged at me at full speed.
I only just managed to not get bowled over by the Demon King himself by jumping off to the side. While he was in the process of turning around, I took out my pistol and fired a few shots into his back. This turned out to be a horrible idea however because the bullets simply bounced off him and flew right back at me. Oh shit. I dodged the first few but the last one caught me in the shoulder and I yelled in pain. I didn't really have time to check my first aid supplies before the blade of a sword was meer inches from my neck. The Demon King spoke again.
"Anata no dangan wa mu kachidesu! Samurai no yarikata de watashi to tatakau ka, shinu ka!" he roared and kicked my dropped sword over to me. I knelt down to pick it up and surprisingly, the Demon King did not make any moves to bisect me like a piece of fruit. I noticed something upon picking up the sword. On the hilt I noticed a switch. It was almost completely camouflaged and I only just realized it was there. I flipped it when I raised the blade to match the Demon King's but nothing happened. The Demon King suddenly made a movement so quick, I believed I was done for if I hadn't been raising the sword to chest level. He went for a horizontal slice to decapitate me but my blade caught it and rather than be shattered into millions of pieces and my head rolling on the ground, it stopped the Demon's Blade entirely. There was the deafening sound of thunder as the two blades connected and then my blade was bathed in what looked like blue flames.
"N-nani?!" the Demon King said and then attempted another strike. Almost against my will, I met his blade half way through the strike and caused his sword to fly backwards. As the Demon King recovered I saw a small note on the ground that wasn't there before. I quickly picked it up and read it. It says "The Blade of Susanoo. Kills those who have lost their humanity. Use it well Zack." I smirked and immediately parried the Demon King's next strike and countered with my own. My blade crackled with energy as it was slashed through the air. It easily sliced through the Demon King's blade, cutting it to the average length of an Ōdachi. The pair of us faced each other before looking at the detached part of the Demon King's sword and then back at each other. Seeing my Dad's face filled with that much hate and rage was a bit unsettling. It was what I imagined his face would look like if me, Mom or Jenna was just killed in front of him. The seconds seemed to last for an eternity before my sword almost willed me to run forward and remain on the ground. As soon as this feeling entered my brain, the Demon King charged and jumped, going for a fierce overhead strike. I remained on the ground and slashed at one of his legs and left a sizable gash there. The Demon King roared and then engaged me while ignoring his pain. The sword seemed to be guiding me through this encounter and I followed its guidance. It said counter left and I did so, leaving another gash in the Demon King. It said to block high and shove and I did, stopping yet another decapitation attempt. This continued for several minutes before the Demon King's legs were so injured I thought he was fighting the pain to just remain standing. The sword then gave me yet another mental command, but it was something I wasn't expecting. "Taunt." I did so.
"What's the matter? Scared?" I said more confidently than I really felt.
"Watashi wa kodomo no yōna mono de kowagatte imasen!" he shouted back. This time the sword translated what the Demon King said for me. "I am not scared by the likes of a CHILD!" Oh, so I'm a child? Nah, fuck you asshole! Again the sword told me to say something but this time in Japanese…which is weird cause I don't speak Japanese. Like at all.
"Basho o erande kudasai, watashi ga kakunin shimasu... Soko ni anata o umemasu," I said (surprising myself that I was able to do so). The Demon King roared yet again and changed at me for his final time. Before he got to me, I felt the sword take over my movements and deliver rapid slashes all over the Demon King's body. I felt it cut deep and fast. The Demon King managed to get a few steps past me before he made a gagging noise and coughed up blood. The sword, which now seemed to be losing its power due to the imminent death of the Demon King, told me to bring the duel to an end with one more taunt. The Demon King turned and tried to attack but sword wounds began to appear all over his body and he started bleeding heavily.
"Omae wa mou…shindeiru," I said before the Demon King fell to the ground and moved no more. A breeze rolled over the area and if I listened close enough, I almost heard the human Nobunaga's voice say "Arigatō Zakkarī-san"
The Demon King's body reverted to human form and I was gifted with the final key card on the ground. Outstanding, I now had all four and could finally go save my father. I sheathed the sword in its scabbard and decided to check the area for supplies. I was lucky. There was some extra ammo and healing items scattered all over the place along with some notes that explained some of Nobunaga's past. Like he told me already, he had been working with Grim for a long time. He seemed to have been an abandoned child that found friendship with Grim and would do anything for affection. I scooped them up and made my way over to Nobunaga's corpse. I gave him a proper burial (or at least, an honorable one) and laid his sword next to him. I carved a mempo mask into a nearby tree signifying the gravesite. Then I began to retrace my steps quietly going over everything that had happened so far. Just this morning, I was on my way to work to continue to search for my father only to be kidnapped and brought to this odd area in the Esmark Mountains. I'd even killed 4 apparently high ranking members of this organization as well. I eventually found myself back at that entrance to the underground lab I had hid near hours ago. Rather than just barge in, I decided to wait a few minutes to see if anyone was going to come out. This turned out to be a good idea. I hid in the dark shadows of a tree and saw Grim emerge from the lab talking to himself.
"Hopefully, Nobunaga killed Zack. I should go check on the others first though. Haven't heard from any of them all night. Can't believe I fell asleep after using my contingency plan on Nobunaga. I missed that entire fight. Plus they destroyed some of the cameras. Why didn't I put cameras near the others, he'll ask me. Easy. I trusted the others to remain loyal. Stupid idiot," Grim said and started walking off in another direction. I gave him a few minutes before I figured he was out of ear shot before I walked up to the door to the lab. There was a keycard scanner on the wall near the door so I took out one of the cards and swiped it. The scanner dinged green and the door opened where I saw stairs descending down. I started to make my way down and as I did so, lights turned on. At the end of this staircase was another door, so I swiped a different key card. It opened into a small hallway with a guard asleep in a chair near the other door. He woke up as I approached and went to shoot me but a 9mm bullet to his head put a stop to that. I swiped the third keycard at this door and it yet again opened. I found myself in a security room with multiple screens and computers. There was even a minifridge nearby. On the wall, I could see the camera feed of the area I had just come from with the destruction of my duel on full display. Some screens displayed static or no video feed while the cameras that weren't destroyed showed the surrounding area rather than the area I dueled in. I started to make my way to the final door at the other end of the room before I noticed something on one of the computer screens. It looked like a video of body cam footage from the BSAA. My curiosity piqued, I sat down in the nearby chair and rewound the video to the beginning.
It began with a few of a car's dashboard followed by a voice I knew quite well.
"Over here, Jin. Xander says he saw the laddie going this way…OH SHEIT!" a man with a Scottish accent yelled. I knew exactly who this was. Reaper. He was with Jin (who is Oni remember?). The body cam showed me what looked like a fiery wreck of a motorcycle. My motorcycle. God DAMMIT! I had just gotten some work done on that too! The bike and surrounding area was on fire but it wasn't out of control quite yet. Jin had grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and started battling the flames while Reaper cried out for me.
"Laddie! Zack! You there mate?" he said. I watched him search the area before hearing Jin's voice.
"Sir…No sign of him…but I did find these," he said. Reaper turned to face Jin who was holding my sunglasses.
"No…no…" Reaper said before he caught sight of something on the ground. He rushed over to it where I saw that the body was wearing my jacket.
"Oh fuck…" Jin said and knelt down and turned the body over. It was the body that Adrian had tricked me with except now it was almost burned to a complete crisp. Honestly, looking at it…it could totally pass as me due to the injuries.
"Bryce…" Jin said before I heard his voice break.
"No…Zack…" Reaper answered. The video then cut to the hallways of the BSAA. Reaper was approaching 3 figures. When he got within a few yards I recognized all three of them. Mom, Jenna and Laura. Jenna looked over as Reaper approached.
"Hey Reaper, weren't you guys going to look for Zack?" she asked before I saw her face fall.
"We…we found him," Jin's voice said from out of frame.
"Where is he Bryce. Where is my baby?" Mom said menacingly. Reaper held out my jacket with the sunglasses perched on top of them.
"Jill," Reaper began before his voice was completely erased by the scream of absolute misery my mother just made. Jenna did as well. Laura simply started bawling.
"No…NO! Not my baby too! Not him! Please. Tell me you're joking. TELL ME!" Mom shouted at Reaper.
"Jill, it looks like he died in a motorcycle accident. It looked like someone caused it intentionally," Reaper explained as Jin attempted to calm Mom down. It was no use. The video ended abruptly after that…before another cut happened and I saw the face of a supreme douchebag laughing at the camera. He was wearing sunglasses…and he wasn't outside.
"Oh man! You should have seen it Grim! That was about an hour or two ago at this point and Jill hasn't said a word since. I've been told she's just holding onto Zack's jacket like it's somehow going to bring him back. Hopefully the little shit has been dealt with by now. I still can't believe this plan worked. Granted, we could have done the video a lot better. The others almost bought that the figure in the video I showed was Zack until fucking Ferguson had to open his mouth. We should get rid of him ne-" SMASH! I had destroyed the monitor in one punch wishing that the person on the monitor felt the full force of my fury right now. It was Xander. He framed me. He was in league with these people. He was the one who captured my father. I knew it. I fucking KNEW it! Who wears sunglasses at night and isn't an absolute asshole. On the desk nearby, was a phone. Must be Grim's. I pocketed it. Evidence. 5 bucks it contains everything I need to finally put that fuck face behind bars forever. I walked over to the other end of the room where the door was and used the final keycard. The door opened to a room that contained a lot of medical equipment with a large cell off in one corner. In the other corner, there was a desk that had an old PA system on it with another TV screen nearby. On it, I saw the carnage from my duel with the Demon King. I made my way over to the cell with my heart pounding. I swear to fucking god if he wasn't in there. My footsteps echoed throughout the empty room. Every step felt like I was walking towards something that I did not want to see. Please still be alive. Please. I didn't do all of this work for nothing. A voice came from the darkness of the cell as I got closer.
"You better not tell me you killed my son. If you did, I will make the rest of your pathetic life HELL." It was my dad's voice.
"D…dad?" I said. A sharp inhale of breath came from the darkness followed by someone scrambling to get up. Out of the darkness came my father. He was almost the spitting image of me but much older and with some gray stubble. He was shirtless (but still had his pants so that's a blessing) and I could see various puncture wounds all over his body. He located me and smiled.
"There's my boy. I knew you or your sister would come," he said. "Key's right next to you Zack. Let me out and we can go home." I hesitated for a moment. What if…what if this was a trick. Dad seemed to notice my internal struggle and said something only my father would know.
"When you were two years old, you walked your mother down the aisle at our wedding and then told me to never hurt her ever," he said and folded his muscular arms. That got me. I grabbed the key, unlocked the door and hugged my father. It really was him. He was alive.
"Is it just you hotshot? Or did you bring the whole squad?"
"M...me. Fell for…stupid trick," I stammered. I felt my dad pat my back.
"It happens Zack. Tell me, what happened?" he asked. I began to tell him everything that had happened the past few hours. From my capture to my various fights with Adrian, Jessie, Clio and Nobunaga.
"Hold on, mom's friend Jade? Huh, that explains what Grim told me a few days ago…anyway, come on son let's get out of here," Dad said before I heard a gun cock.
"Oh, I don't think so Redfield," Grim's voice sounded from nearby. It was almost shaking with suppressed rage. "Neither of you two are leaving here alive."
